


To Earn One's Stripes

by ElisaPhoenix



Series: Mama Bear AntLord [28]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Peter Quill, Fire, Gen, M/M, Other, POV Alternating, Parent Peter Quill, Parent Scott Lang, Protective Peter Quill, Scott just goes with things at this point, Tigers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27046858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElisaPhoenix/pseuds/ElisaPhoenix
Summary: They were just going to help Cassie take Diana to the circus that came to town......now they have an overgrown fuzzy doormat.
Relationships: Peter Quill/Scott Lang
Series: Mama Bear AntLord [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1469342
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	To Earn One's Stripes

It was Quill's soft groan that woke him, but he didn't bother opening his eyes to look at him. The celestial had just gotten back from a late shift and Scott listened as Quill's belt was unbuckled and yanked from the loops. It clattered on the carpet almost noiselessly as the man sat on the foot of the bed to kick off his boots, and then his pants and shirt joined them on the floor before Quill collapsed onto the bed next to Scott. The younger could _feel_ the god relaxing into the bed, but the smell of smoke made him wrinkle his nose as he rolled over to look at his husband.

"You smell like smoke." Scott mumbles.  
"Sorry babe...I'm exhausted. Is it that bad?" Quill mumbles into his pillow.  
"No. Just make sure you shower when you wake up. We have to wash the sheets anyway."

Quill grunted to let Scott know that he had heard him and not even two seconds later, was snoring like an overgrown cat. Flynn's nose poked out from under his collection of Quill's shirts on his bed before the fox crawled out from under them and jumped into the bed after a few tries. As the kit walked up the bed to plop next to the celestial and curl against his neck, Scott began to wonder why Flynn didn't seem to be growing. He had to be almost a year old but still looked as if he were only a couple months old and Quill sure as shit wasn't into… _that_. Was there a different connection between the two?

Then the metaphorical light bulb lit up. Flynn chewed on Quill's fingers every chance he got, and whenever he drew blood, he whined apologetically and licked the droplets away. Maybe that was the reason Flynn wasn't growing? Neither of them were concerned, just curious.

Scott huffed fondly and rolled back over to go to sleep, but was woken again when he felt another body crawl into the bed between them. Cassie slips under the covers between them, and sighs softly, not even complaining about Quill's smoky smell.

"Nightmare?" Scott asks groggily.  
"Couldn't go back to sleep by myself." She whispers.  
"Just be careful of Flynn." Scott mumbles before going back to sleep.

The next morning, when Scott woke up, Cassie was already gone from the bed and breakfast wafted in the air through the cracked doorway. He didn't get up. He just rolled over and entwined his legs with Quill's and sighed softly when the god wrapped an arm around him in response. Quill still smelt like smoke but neither he nor Flynn minded...and that was another thing about the fox. Any other fox would run and hide from the smell of smoke but it seemed like Flynn understood the difference between his daddy smelling like it and something like the barbecue at the lake house.

"Are you wearing perfume?" Quill mumbles out and Scott snorts.  
"No. Cassie was in here with us last night. Maybe she was wearing some yesterday."  
"Hnn...okay…"  
"Come on big guy let's take a shower. I can smell breakfast. Barely. You stink." Scott laughs and shakes Quill awake.  
"Too tired for shower sex." He groans.  
"We don't have to do that. Now get up before I push you off the bed."

Scott rolls out of bed and schleps himself into the adjoining bathroom, taking off his shirt and sleep pants with the door open. Quill may be too tired to do the deed but giving him something to look at would give him enough motivation to get out of bed. And it worked. He heard his husband mumble something along the lines of "you're such a tease" as he got out of bed, and Quill soon joined him as he pulled off his own clothes. They stepped into the shower after Scott turned it on and just before Quill closed the door, Flynn darted in and hee-hee'd as the water wet his fur.

"We might as well get him clean too." Scott laughs.  
"Shouldn't it be weird that he can see us naked?" Quill asks as Flynn moves to his usual corner out of the spray and out of danger of being stepped on.  
"We've had sex while he was in the room. You're worried about this _now_?" Scott rolls his eyes as Quill starts washing his hair.  
"Nah. I'm not worried about it."

They washed and rinsed, Quill got a little handsy which led to a steamy make out session, and then Quill finally turned his attention to Flynn when the kit started yapping for his attention. While he washed Flynn, Scott got out of the shower and dried off before wrapping the towel around his waist and went to pull their clothes out. It wasn't long before he heard the shower turn off and then Flynn's collar jingling obnoxiously, giving away that he had shaken the water off his fur.

Then he heard the hair dryer. Flynn hee-hee'd again, and Scott rolled his eyes as he took the clothes into the bathroom after getting dressed. Flynn was sitting on the sink as Quill pointed the hair dryer at him on the lowest setting to dry him off, with his tongue sticking out and his tail swishing happily. It had been sort of an accident when they found out Flynn liked the hair dryer. The fox had the zooms one day and darted into Cassie's bedroom and then her bathroom when he saw it cracked open and she pointed her hair dryer at him in the middle of drying her hair to try and chase him out, but he just sat down and enjoyed the warm air.

More often than not, Cassie's hair dryer was in their bathroom now.

"Alright. All done buddy. Go see if Cassie will brush you." Quill says as he turns off the hair dryer.

As if he understood, Flynn hopped down onto the toilet and then the floor before running out and Quill accepted his clothes from Scott after putting the appliance away. It gave the thief time to appreciate the _very_ firmly toned body in front of him until it was hidden away by clothes. He, of course, picked out a tight fitting t-shirt to hug Quill's muscles so he could ogle some more. Shame? The word flew from his vocabulary when he started dating Quill. Now he was married to the man and it was almost like they didn't know what it meant. Just enough to keep not safe for work activities from young eyes.

The second Quill finished getting dressed, Scott glomped onto him. "You sure you need this on?" He asks as he tugs on the shirt.  
Quill laughs. "I'm pretty sure Cassie is getting sick of me walking around without a shirt on."  
"Maybe later we can--" Scott starts until Flynn comes running back in to screech at them loudly.  
"Alright, alright!" Quill huffs and follows Flynn downstairs after Scott drops his arms. "Did Cassie brush you?"  
"I will after breakfast." She says as she sets plates on the breakfast counter.  
"Do you have any plans for today?" Scott asks her as the couple sits down to eat.  
"The circus is in town." She says as she sits with them. "Diana wants to go so I said I'd take her. Stephen was going to come with us but he had an emergency and he's dimension hopping now."  
"We can go with you." Quill offers after swallowing some eggs.  
"Really?! She was disappointed when Mom had to cancel last minute."  
"Sure peanut. We'll eat, get Flynn nice and pretty, and we'll take you and Dia." Scott says.  
"Pretty." Quill snorts and bites off a piece of bacon.  
==========

He didn't know what happened. One minute they were enjoying the show, and the next, the tent was on fire and people were screaming. Quill immediately jumped into action and got Scott and the girls out safely before focusing on getting everyone else out as quickly as possible, and just as the last of the people were running out of the blazing tent...he heard it. A pained roar filled the air just as potently as the black smoke and Quill looked around until he found a tiger trapped under some of the metal structure that had fallen. The tiger roared again and when Quill got close enough, it growled dangerously until the celestial held his hands up.

"Easy." Quill steps closer slowly and stops again when the beast swipes its paw at him. "I'm just going to get this off of you."

He braves stepping even closer and grabs the metal structure carefully and then lifts it almost effortlessly off of the tiger. It quickly gets up and moves out from under it just before Quill drops it again, and the beast roars out painfully and collapses again. It didn't take much investigation to see the structure had injured the cat and Quill approached it again, ignoring the swipe to heal its injured leg. The tiger's claws sunk deeply into his shoulder, but Quill didn't move until he was done healing the tiger.

He was minorly surprised when the massive paw dropped from his shoulder carefully.

"Alright, get up. Come on." He urges the tiger and leads it by its scruff to their exit when it gets back to its feet.

The tent started coming down around them as they escaped, and they nearly had to dive out to keep themselves from getting buried under the burning tarp. Quill leads the tiger a safer distance away from the fire, and once he catches a glimpse of the fire department arriving and taking action, he looks around for Scott and the girls. Quill found them a few yards away and sighed with relief when he saw they were unharmed, and started the short trek over to them...until he was nearly knocked over by the tiger nudging his leg.

Right. The tiger. There was no chance in hell he was returning it to the circus. He saw a few scars scattered along its side and haunches as he was healing its leg and it infuriated him to know that animal cruelty was real within the circus.

Quill kneels down and slowly reaches out to pet it gently. The tiger chuffs softly and moves closer to nudge the celestial again and he sighs. "If Scott doesn't kill me, Tony will. I have a fox at home. There's a cat and a wolf too. You can't eat them."

No one came to claim the tiger so Quill got back up and led it over to Scott and the girls. Not that he would have handed the tiger over anyway. When he got close enough and they noticed his presence, Scott immediately pulled the girls behind him when he saw the tiger.

"Quill! There's--"  
"A tiger. I know." He huffs. "It…" he pauses and looks under the tiger. "Excuse me, _he_ is coming home with us."  
Scott opens and closes his mouth before, "he's...what about Flynn and the other animals?!"  
"I'm sure Stephen can help with that. Sugar...he needs some TLC." Quill gently pets the tiger's side to draw attention to his scars. "I won't let them take him back...and he's too domesticated for the wild."  
Scott sighs. "...if you think it's safe then fine. Tony is probably going to shit a brick though."  
"I don't think Tony cares anymore."  
"I can make a portal home!" Diana finally pipes up, and without the use of a sling ring, she opens a portal to their floor at the tower and walks through with Cassie and Scott before Quill follows with the tiger.

As the portal closes behind them, Quill firmly grabs the tiger by its scruff as Flynn comes tearing after them from out of nowhere...and the kit immediately skids to a stop when he sees the tiger. Both animals stared at each other for what seemed like an hour, and then the tiger finally lays down and pulls Flynn closer with one of his massive paws and starts licking him. The kit screeches in surprise but once he realizes he's not being eaten, he slowly begins to relax until he's actually starting to enjoy the grooming.

"I…" Scott finally starts with an expression of bewilderment. "Just like that? Do we even need Stephen's help communicating with him?"  
"We might not." Quill replies in amusement.  
"What are you gonna name him?" Cassie asks.  
"Oh pfft...hell if I know." Quill says.  
Scott bravely crouches next to the tiger and hesitates before reaching out and petting him. He doesn't even falter in cleaning the fox between his paws. "He looks like an Emir."  
Cassie nods. "I like it."  
"Emir it is." Quill chuckles.  
"Uncle Quill, you're bleeding!" Diana says as she points to his wounded shoulder.  
"Believe me, it was worse than this when he swipes at me. It'll be healed in another hour." The god tells her with a smile. "You better go upstairs and tell your dad that you're okay. I'm sure the fire is all over the news."

Diana agrees and takes Cassie with her to go upstairs and Scott stands back up to stand next to Quill and watch Emir lick Flynn. Maybe since Quill had helped him and even saved his life, Emir was respecting the ones he was with and knew Flynn wasn't dinner? He wasn't sure but it was a mercy. If he had to keep them separated until Stephen got home, it would have been a nightmare.

"Maybe I can get Emir to do that to you too." Quill cackles and Scott smacks his chest with the back of his hand.  
"Don't you dare."

**Author's Note:**

> If you're wondering what kind of tiger, Emir is a Siberian.
> 
> Also there's an Antlord server if you're interested/would like to join! Here's the link:
> 
> https://discord.gg/kc6AcPk


End file.
